Tag: book

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who needs sleep?

Happy Saturday, Readers!  I hope you survived the Friday the 13th madness.  Little trivia for you: I was born on a Friday the 13th.  I’m sure some of you out there are thinking, “oh, that explains a lot,” am I right?

You know, October is my favorite month. I love Halloween, and wish my living situation allowed for some outdoor decorating.  Alas, I would be the only one to see it, since my porch doesn’t face the street.  I was cleaning out my sock drawer yesterday and discovered I have twelve pairs of Halloween socks!

I also celebrate Samhain, the Pagan celebration for the end of summer, the final harvest of the year.

But I’m rambling.  That happens when you’re working on 3 hours of sleep.  I actually came here to let you all know that In Gathering Shade is now 100% good to go, both paperback and kindle.

I plan on doing a giveaway, but probably not until November.  I’m crazy busy the next few weeks and I need to get a shipment of books to have on hand.  I’ll even include both In Gathering Shade and Through Shade and Shadow (with it’s new glorious cover art).  And maybe I’ll throw in a few other goodies too.

The coffee pot is calling me now, so I’ll leave it here.  Drop a note in the comments to say hi or ask a question. I love to hear from people.

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early morning coffee

Lately, the pain from this pinched nerve gets me up and out of bed around 3am every morning.  Today it’s the tightness in my shoulder muscles and my forearm muscles.  Some mornings it’s the searing, stabbing pain in my neck and shoulder joint.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s much better than it was a week ago.

I’ll wake up, possibly needing to go to the bathroom around 1 or 2 am.  I’ll shift around, take the middle of the night pain pills, then toss and turn and doze a bit until I give up because I just can’t get comfortable.  That’s almost always right around 3am.

I get up, get the cats their morning treats and start a pot of coffee.  Then I sit and play silly Facebook games with my left hand working the mouse while I let gravity help loosen up my right arm.  Usually by the end of the first pot of coffee, I’m mostly functional, though typing isn’t usually on the agenda this early.

Because I’m on limited duty for work, and am largely working from home, this means I have a little time to kill before I start my work day.  Yesterday that meant working on my short story for the second anthology, and that’s probably what I’ll do today too.  Either that or I work on the third book in the Shades and Shadows series.

Speaking of which, have you gone to get your copy of In Gathering Shade yet?  The kindle version is available now.  Paperbacks coming soon!

You can also get Through Shade and Shadow and In Gathering Shade together as a bundle on Kindle.

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Once you’ve read them, I’d really appreciate a review.  It only takes a minute.  You don’t have to say much.  I really hate how much we rely on them to get our books into recommendations, but we do.

I’m putting together a giveaway package that I’ll probably award in December.  It will include autographed copies of both books in the series, as well as some fun things you’re going to love, so stay tuned!

On that note, my coffee cup needs refilling and my arm needs a rest.  Happy Tuesday, Readers!

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in search of…

Are you a book reviewer?  A reader who loves books?  I’m looking for folks who will provide honest reviews of my books.  I can provide electronic ARCs if you are a book blogger or reviewer.

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I know my work isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but if you’re interested in vampire stories that go beyond the modern teenage love story, you might enjoy Forever, the story of Amara: born to a vampire mother and raised in a clan of killers, Amara finds herself at odds with her family and drawn toward the world of man.

 

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Once Upon a Broken Dream is an anthology of short stories that all emerged from a single prompt.  Two of my own stories are in there and I edited the overall anthology.  The stories cover a broad spectrum of genres.  My two offerings are an introduction to a sci-fi story I hope to introduce next year, Jericho Jordan and a fairy-tale fantasy called Red-Belly about a world once governed by dragons.

 

Through Shade and Shadow

Through Shade and Shadow is the opening salvo in a series filled with danger, secret government agencies, psychics, healers and shape-shifters and a world on the brink of war. Meet Mason Jerah, a Shade, who we meet as his world dies, goes from a backwoods, sheltered boy to government agent at the focal point of the coming civil war and Alaric Lambrecht, a Shadow who just wants to keep his people safe.  When they finally come together, it could signal the beginning of the end.

 

In-Gathering-Shade-Main-FileIn Gathering Shade picks up where Through Shade and Shadow left off, joining Mason and Alaric on a daring escape and meeting a few new players.  Raven Ivany is a government agent, working for the same agency as Mason.  She too is a Shade, and while investigating what seems to be a Shade serial killer, she happens across Zero, a teenager with the abilities of a Sage and a Shadow, together with Evan Chayton, they find themselves caught up in the machinations of a Shadow who has been manipulating things from behind the scenes.

 

Anyone interested in reviewing any of these, please reach out to me at natalie@nataliejcase.com.

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In Gathering Shade

I’m so excited, Readers!  Today the Kindle version of In Gathering Shade is available on Amazon!  The paperback always takes a few days, but should be available this week.

Held captive by the fanatical 8th Battalion, Mason Jerah is convinced he doesn’t have long to live… and he isn’t alone in his captivity. The Shadows have a plan; one that could mean freedom.

Meanwhile, operative Raven Ivany struggles against the forces aligning against Shades and Shadows – Shifters and Sages – and finds an unlikely companion in Zero, a teenage girl with a mysterious past and desire to prove herself.

*insert flailing and dolphin noises*

It doesn’t matter how many times I do this, the birth of a new book is always this combination of excitement, terror and a flailing need for validation.  So, please let me know what you think, write a review, pimp me to your friends.

I will get this listed on my books page soon and will add it to my facebook store as soon as I have a few copies.  In the meantime, if you already know you want an autographed paperback, drop me a note to pre-order and I’ll make sure you’re among the first to get yours.

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introducing Zero, and a cover reveal

I meant to introduce you all to Zero last week, but I completely spaced it. I’ll blame it on the combination of pain and pain meds. So today, I want to do that, but yesterday my publisher emailed me with the cover for In Gathering Shade, and as an added bonus, he included the re-designed cover for Through Shade and Shadow.

Through Shade and ShadowIt’s gorgeous, don’t you think?  I’m in love with it!

Okay, let’s talk about Zero. I started writing Zero’s character originally thinking she was the start of something new.  Then I discovered that she was a part of Shades and Shadows.

We first meet her as a prisoner of sorts, the subject of some mysterious experimentation.  Zero is sixteen, the daughter of a Chinese Sage who was seduced and eventually controlled by an American Shadow with questionable ambitions.

Zero is something of an escape artist, an adept thief, and particularly good with glamors. She doesn’t trust easily, so when she throws in with Raven and Evan she’s also got one foot out the door, and her eye on all the exits.

Even she doesn’t fully know what the experiments did to her, but she knows she doesn’t want to wait to find out.  She has seen first hand what the man behind her captivity could do to the minds of others and she’s scared that he might have done the same to her.

Zero is both Sage and Shadow, and no one knows the full extent of what she can do.  In many ways, Zero is a broken glass held together with duct tape.

I know, I know…what you really want is to see the cover for In Gathering Shade, right?

With no further ado…This cover is beautiful!  I can’t stop staring at the two of them together!

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I should have release dates and such for you soon!  Now though, I need to get more coffee and get my work day started.

I’d love to hear what you think.  Drop me a note in the comments!

 

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introducing Evan Chayton

Evan Chayton is a Shifter, though he keeps that fact very well guarded.  As he first appears in the beginning of In Gathering Shade, only a small group of people know his secret.  He is also a military man who is assigned to Adam Darvin’s secretive organization.

Raven chooses him to be her handler when Adam sends her on a mission because she trusts that his secret will ensure his loyalty.  After her previous handler turned out to be working for the 8th Battalion, Raven is wary and wants to know she can trust whoever is watching her back.

Evan is a by the book guy, he believes in discipline and protocol, and he doesn’t like showing weakness in any way, but he finds himself vulnerable and exposed when the psychic link between him and his brother forces him to experience his brother’s torture.

Evan grew up in a tight knit family presided over by his mother, who was a force to be reckoned with from as far back as he could remember.  His father was something of a home-body, preferring to spend time keeping their home clean and welcoming, while also supporting the work his wife devoted herself too.

There were aunts and uncles and cousins too, at least while Evan was young.  He started his change early, Shifting for the first time at only nine years old.  They had an older sister, but after an argument with their mother, she had flown away and Evan hadn’t seen her in better than ten years.

Evan and his brother could pass for one another, but they were very different outside the similarity in their faces.  While Sawyer was a risk taker and a thrill chaser, Evan preferred quiet and solid footing.  It was no wonder that when they reached the end of the change and were each fully in control of their Shifting, that Sawyer ended up a spy of sorts while Evan opted for the military.

We meet Evan near the beginning of In Gathering Shade, and he will also play an important role in the next book in the series.

 

I just returned my manuscript for In Gathering Shade to the publisher.  There will be a cover reveal soon, followed by the actual release!

 

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every little step counts

I know I’ve been absent of late.  And I haven’t introduced any characters in a couple weeks.  Somewhere along the line, I got a pinched nerve in my neck, and it’s really stifled my ability to be on a computer.  In fact today is the first time that I have typed more than a few words before I decided the pain was too much.

I plan on introducing another new character later today and I just got the manuscript back from the publisher for final edits.  It won’t be long now!

Are you excited?  I know I am!

I also have  a whole new world brewing. If been contemplating that story for a couple of years now and it’s finally starting to come together.

I need to pour another cup of coffee and check on the crock pot which is currently cooking tonight’s dinner.  Expect another post later today to introduce you  to Evan Chayton.

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introducing Mila and Maddie Hines

Like Raven, we first meet Mila and Maddie in Through Shade and Shadow, though they are largely relegated to the background.  When we first meet them, Alaric and his friends, following a vision, help them escape from the 8th Battalion along with Sahara.

Mila is nineteen. Maddie has just turned sixteen.  Through that first encounter we learn that Shifters go through a change with puberty, and before the start of puberty they can not shift into animal form.  During this period, the Shifter is not fully in control of their shifting, and strong emotion or pain can cause unexpected shifts.

It is this problematic effect that leads to the girls getting caught by the 8th Battalion.  We don’t know a lot about what they went through while they were prisoners, but we can be fairly certain that pain was involved.

In In Gathering Shade, the girls get a chance to come out of the background a little bit.  Unlike Sahara, who’s cat is a lioness, Mila and Maddie are black jaguars.  While living in the camp where Alaric brought them after their rescue, the girls help out by hunting large game to feed the growing population of their hideaway.

Mila is a leader, and she struggles under the rules of the camp and the impression that Sahara speaks for the sisters simply because she’s older.  Maddie is the more sensitive of the two, seeing herself as a freak who just wants to be normal.  This feeling is not surprising, considering that she is both a Shifter and a teenage girl.

Both girls were fairly sheltered growing up, and their understanding of the world is somewhat skewed by that, but they will have to find their feet fast if they are going to survive the war that is coming.

 

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free on kindle

I almost forgot to let you know that Through Shade and Shadow is currently free for kindle, now (well, starting yesterday) through September 3rd!

through-shade-and-shadow-reders-favYou read that right!  FREE!

Just in time to be ready for In Gathering Shade, get Through Shade and Shadow for your kindle, and if you’re up for it, write a review.

Remember that any NEW reviews will be entered for a chance to win a copy of In Gathering Shade!

 

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And while you’re at it, you should pick up a copy of Once Upon a Broken Dream too!  Just $.99 for your Kindle!

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and that’s a wrap

I spent my evenings last week working through the edits sent to me by my amazing Editor and by Saturday morning it was time for a final read through to make sure I had carried some changes all the way through.

Sunday at around noon, I was done and all that was left was sending it to my publisher, Creativia.  It is now off in the capable hands of our team there where it will go through a final edit, cover design, formatting, etc….

Now that it’s come this far, I can start introducing you to some of the new characters and situations!  I’ll start this Wednesday with character introductions and I’ll bring you a new character every Wednesday until the book is out.  On Saturdays, I’ll be recapping some of the background story to help get you up to speed.

And don’t forget to leave a review for either Forever or Through Shade and Shadow and you might win a free copy of the new book, In Gathering Shade, when it comes out!